Height Converter
5 feet 8 inches equals 172.72 cm, and 180 cm equals about 5 feet 10.87 inches. This height converter switches body height between feet and inches and centimeters. Enter a value in one format and the calculator gives you the other using the exact definition of 2.54 centimeters per inch. Feet and inches are handled as a mixed-unit measurement, not decimal feet. The converter multiplies whole or decimal feet by 12, adds the entered inches, and then converts the total. In the other direction, it splits total inches into whole feet and a remaining-inch value. Negative inputs are rejected. Zero and decimal values are accepted, and an inches entry above 12 is treated as additional inches rather than rejected.
Quick answer
1 inch equals 2.54 cm and 1 foot equals 12 inches (30.48 cm).
What this tells you
- •1 inch equals 2.54 cm and 1 foot equals 12 inches (30.48 cm).
- •To convert to cm, multiply total inches by 2.54.
- •To convert from cm, divide by 2.54 to get total inches, then split into feet and inches.
- •Results are rounded to 2 decimal places.
- •The internal total-inches result is rounded to 4 decimal places.
- •Negative feet, inches, or centimeters are invalid, while zero is accepted by the formula.
- •An inches value above 12 still converts mathematically, though conventional height notation would carry it into feet.
How to Use
- 1Choose whether you are converting from feet and inches to cm, or from cm to feet and inches.
- 2Enter the height value.
- 3Click Convert to get the result.
- 4Read the formula label to confirm which entered values were converted.
- 5For conventional feet-and-inches notation, enter fewer than 12 inches or carry each group of 12 into the feet field.
How It Works
Formula
To cm: centimeters = (feet x 12 + inches) x 2.54. To feet and inches: total inches = cm / 2.54, then feet = floor(total inches / 12), inches = remainder.The converter uses the international standard of 2.54 cm per inch. For feet and inches to cm, it first converts feet to inches, adds the remaining inches, then multiplies by 2.54. For cm to feet and inches, it divides by 2.54 to get total inches, then splits into whole feet and remaining inches.
Calculation note: values are processed in the order shown above, using the current input units.
Worked Examples
5 feet 8 inches to cm
Convert feet to inches first: 5 x 12 = 60. Add the remaining inches: 60 + 8 = 68 total inches. Multiply by 2.54: 68 x 2.54 = 172.72 cm.
180 cm to feet and inches
Divide 180 by 2.54 to get 70.87 total inches. Divide by 12 to get 5 feet with 10.87 inches remaining.
6 feet 2.5 inches to centimeters
Six feet is 72 inches. Adding 2.5 gives 74.5 total inches, and 74.5 x 2.54 equals 189.23 cm exactly to the displayed precision.
170 cm to feet and inches
170 divided by 2.54 is about 66.9291 total inches. Five feet accounts for 60 inches, leaving 6.93 inches after the remainder is rounded to 2 decimal places.
Visa form that wants centimeters
Priya's driver's license lists her height as 5 feet 3.5 inches, and an online visa application asks for centimeters. The converter adds 5 x 12 + 3.5 for 63.5 total inches and multiplies by 2.54 to get 161.29 cm. She types 161 on the form, because the license only recorded her to the nearest half inch and two decimals would imply more precision than the measurement had. Her brother's clinic chart reads 165 cm. Running that the other way returns 5 feet 4.96 inches, or 64.9606 total inches, which he reads as 5 feet 5 inches.
Zero height input
The conversion formula accepts zero and returns zero in each unit. This is mathematically defined even though it does not describe a person's body height.
Feet and inches to centimeters, 4'10" to 6'6"
Every second inch from 4 feet 10 inches to 6 feet 6 inches, with the total-inches step the converter uses on the way to centimeters. Values between two rows sit 2.54 cm apart per inch.
| Feet and inches | Total inches | Centimeters |
|---|---|---|
| 4'10" | 58 | 147.32 cm |
| 5'0" | 60 | 152.40 cm |
| 5'2" | 62 | 157.48 cm |
| 5'4" | 64 | 162.56 cm |
| 5'6" | 66 | 167.64 cm |
| 5'8" | 68 | 172.72 cm |
| 5'10" | 70 | 177.80 cm |
| 6'0" | 72 | 182.88 cm |
| 6'2" | 74 | 187.96 cm |
| 6'4" | 76 | 193.04 cm |
| 6'6" | 78 | 198.12 cm |
Computed with the formula above: total inches = feet x 12 + inches, then centimeters = total inches x 2.54. The inch has been exactly 25.4 mm since the 1959 international yard and pound agreement (NIST, effective July 1, 1959), so these centimeter values are exact rather than rounded.
How mixed feet and inches are parsed
The feet and inches fields are separate numeric quantities. An entry of 5 feet and 8 inches becomes 5 x 12 + 8, or 68 total inches. Entering 5.8 in the feet field means 5.8 decimal feet, which equals 69.6 inches before any inches-field value is added. It does not mean 5 feet 8 inches.
The converter does not require the inches field to stay below 12. Five feet and 14 inches becomes 74 total inches and converts to the same centimeters as 6 feet 2 inches. Keeping inches below 12 makes the notation easier to read, but both inputs are mathematically equivalent in the to-centimeters path.
When converting from centimeters, the code first finds total inches, then takes the largest whole number of feet that fits. The leftover inches are rounded to 2 decimals. Total inches are also returned to 4 decimals. Because displayed values are rounded independently, converting a rounded result back may differ by a small fraction of a centimeter.
The exact factor does not make the result exact. NIST SP 811, the NIST guide to the SI, says in section B.7.2 that a converted value should be rounded to the precision of the original measurement, not to the precision of the conversion factor. A height read to the nearest inch could be off by half an inch either way, which is 1.27 cm, so reporting 5 feet 8 inches as 172.72 cm carries two decimals the tape never measured. The practical convention is to round to the nearest whole centimeter, 173 cm in that case, or to the nearest half inch when going the other way. The converter shows two decimals so you can see the arithmetic, and you decide how many to keep.
Medical charts record height from a standardized measurement, which is why a clinic number can differ from a self-reported one by 2 or 3 cm. The CDC's NHANES Anthropometry Procedures Manual (2021) describes the protocol used for US survey data: standing height is taken from age 2 on a stadiometer with a fixed backboard, shoes and hair ornaments off, heels together, with the back of the head, shoulder blades, buttocks, and heels touching the board and the head level in the Frankfort plane. Children under 4 are measured lying down on an infantometer as recumbent length. NHANES records the result in centimeters, and CDC growth charts carry both centimeter and inch axes, so a pediatric visit may hand you a metric number to convert for a form that wants feet and inches.
Self-reported height tends to run high and clinic height tends to run lower later in the day, because the spine compresses by a centimeter or so between morning and evening. Those effects are outside this tool. It converts the number you give it, assumes the international inch of exactly 2.54 cm, and does not check whether the value is plausible for a person.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting to convert feet to inches first. You cannot multiply feet directly by 2.54. Convert feet to inches (multiply by 12), add the remaining inches, then multiply the total by 2.54.
- Rounding too early. Convert the full height first, then round the final result to 2 decimal places for accuracy.
- Confusing height conversion with general length conversion. This tool is designed for body height in feet and inches, which uses a combined format rather than decimal feet.
- Entering 5.8 feet when you mean 5 feet 8 inches. Decimal feet and mixed feet-and-inches notation are different.
- Assuming the converter rejects 12 inches or more. It accepts the value, but conventional notation would carry those inches into feet.
- Reading 10.87 remaining inches as 10 inches and 87 hundredths of a foot.
- Expecting a rounded reverse conversion to reproduce every original decimal exactly.
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